Higher level apprenticeships are providing work-based routes to professional qualification, which in the past were traditionally restricted to graduates.

The new level 4 and level 5 apprenticeship qualifications starting to emerge this autumn offer an opportunity for the public sector to tackle skills gaps using government-funded training. In the civil service the post is protected from the jobs freeze if the employee is a higher apprentice.

The sector skills council for business, Skills CFA, has been involved in the development and launch of three new higher apprenticeships. Skills CFA expects 775 people in the next four years to complete the new level 4 qualification in project management. The qualification is equal to finishing the first year of an undergraduate programme. The council is also behind a new level 5 in human resource management, which has the same status as the second year of a degree course.

The sector skills council has at the same time been working with the civil service in the north-west in its pilot of a level 5 leadership and development higher apprenticeship. The pilot, which includes around 50 operational middle managers, involves civil servants from different departments including HM Revenue and Customs, the Department for Work and Pensions, the Ministry of Justice and the Home Office learning together.

Jenny Hewell, chief executive of Skills CFA says there has been broad interest in the HR and project management higher level apprenticeships from across the public sector including NHS trusts and district and county councils. She says many are coming on board because although there is no minimum or upper age limits, they are an attractive alternative for young people with good A-levels who are reluctant to go to university. "These young people can earn while they learn and create a career and move faster [up the ladder] than a university graduate would, certainly at the beginning," she says.

The level 4 higher apprenticeship in project management has been developed in partnership with the Association of Project Management (APM). After completing the two-year course apprentices will be eligible for associate APM membership.

The level 5 apprenticeship in HR includes the applied diploma in human resources which is accredited by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and brings associate membership of the professional association.

Tim Keeling, who is leading on the development of the two awards at the skills council, says the body hopes the higher apprenticeship bring about a big shift in attitudes towards the public sector, so that the profession will become to be seen as a "career of choice rather than something which people fall into".

The London borough of Lewisham has become one of the first local authorities to offer the higher apprenticeship in project management. The council says many town hall jobs require a blend of high academic ability and specialist, hands-on skills. "Supporting our apprentices onto higher apprenticeship frameworks enables us to fulfil our ambition to develop high-calibre members of staff, especially in areas for which we predict future skill shortages," says a Lewisham official.

West Sussex county council has already recruited two higher apprenticeships in professional accountancy and sees the potential of those in project management and HR. The council's employment and skills consultant, Elizabeth Flegg says it means the council can train its own HR professionals for the future. "The project management qualification is really interesting for us as because we are a shrinking local authority," she adds. "We see it as a growth area and we need that skills set."

Latest figures from the Department for Business Innovation and Skills show the number of higher apprenticeships in the public and private sectors rose by 47% to 2,200 between 2008-09 and 2010-11 academic years. In the first nine months of the 2011-12 academic year the figure was 2,800.

The government wants to create 25,000 new higher apprenticeships in 29 different skills in the next three years.